Obama Turns to Tourism in Latest Bid to Spur Economy

May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Sparking economic growth through
tourism is the latest pitch from President Barack Obama, who’s
ramping up his jobs message leading into November’s U.S.
congressional elections.

Obama today signed a document that will turn almost 500,000
acres of New Mexico wilderness into a protected national
monument.

“Legend has it that Apache Chief Geronimo hid in these
mountains,” he said at a ceremony at the Interior Department in
Washington. “They are a spectacular site,” filled with deer,
antelope, falcons and mountain lions, he said.

U.S. tourism in March, the most recent month available,
totaled $5.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In unadjusted dollars, that was the second-highest monthly total
on record.

Obama praised ranchers, tribal leaders and local hunters
for working with the administration on the designation.

Tourism’s just one area of the economy Obama has been
touting for potential growth.

Obama also has been pushing this week to attract foreign
investment in the U.S. and to boost infrastructure spending.

Today, Obama created the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
National Monument in southern New Mexico, with the White House
saying a new national monument can spur $7.4 million in annual
economic activity.

‘Small-Scale’ Proposal

Focusing on tourism is “a small-scale kind of proposal,
but it’s one that especially at this time in the summer that
people will like to hear about,” Julian Zelizer, a Princeton
University history professor, said in a telephone interview.
“It’s not the kind of proposal that’s going to solve the
sluggish economic growth that this country faces.”

Joblessness declined in April to 6.3 percent seasonally
adjusted, the lowest level since September 2008, according to
Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Some of the decrease was driven
by a decline in labor-force participation to 62.8 percent, from
65 percent the previous month.

Tomorrow, Obama heads to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
in Cooperstown, New York, to deliver a speech on tourism and
jobs. Last week, Obama helped dedicate a museum on the site of
the World Trade Center in New York to remember the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks and their almost 3,000 victims.

Earlier this week, Obama met with executives from companies
including Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-largest
airline, and Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker,
to talk about bringing foreign companies’ jobs to the U.S. and
keeping those of U.S.-based companies here.